The Director of the Center for Regional studies of Turan University Prof. Ablet K. Kamalov delivered a lecture at the University of London
On 23 January 2024, the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, hosted a lecture “From Repatriation to Exodus: Migrations on Sino-Soviet Frontier in the 1950-1960s” by Prof. Ablet Kamalov, the Director of the Center for Regional studies (Turan University). The lecture discussed one of the largest cross-border migrations of the 20th century in the Sino-Soviet frontier areas, that is a migration from two provinces of the People’s Republic of China (Manchuria and Xinjiang) to Soviet Kazakhstan in the 1950-1960s. The migration started in 1954 as a repatriation of Soviet citizens, turned into a mass exodus of population of the frontier districts of Xinjiang in April-May of 1962. The lecture examined push and pull factors of the cross-border migration, its main stages and consequences.
Discussion of the migration was put into the context of geopolitical changes occurred in Eurasia after the World War II and the development of Soviet-China relations in the first decades of the Communist power in China. Ablet Kamalov’s lecture was well received by Central Asia and China experts of the University of London. The lecture was organized by Prof. Rachel Harris, the School of Oriental and African Studies, who earlier, in 2018-2022, has supervised a project on sustainable cultural development jointly carried out by the University of London together with Turan University. The lecture on cross-border migration was held within the framework of the research project “Migration factor in the Kazakhstan-Chinese relations” (MSHE RK, IRN АР19679244). Information on the lecture can be found on the website of the School of Oriental and African studies, the University of London.
